S.J. County median home prices push past $200,000

Median existing home prices in San Joaquin County jumped above $200,000 last month, up 26.5 percent in just 12 months.

Staff and wire reports

Median existing home prices in San Joaquin County jumped above $200,000 last month, up 26.5 percent in just 12 months.

The increases in home prices here echo increases in both the state and nation.

"Housing is now the strongest part of the economy in growth terms," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

The California Association of Realtors said Thursday that while year-over-year home sales in the county dropped about 11 percent - blamed largely on the continuing lack of inventory - median prices increased to $206,190 in May, the highest figure in five years. That was up 5.2 percent from April.

"It's encouraging to see median home prices across most parts of the state continuing to recover," CAR President Don Faught said.

Statewide, the median price was up nearly 32 percent from a year earlier to $417,350, although sales fell 3.6 percent. Median prices in the Bay Area, the state's priciest region, climbed to $719,610.

"The Bay Area, in particular, has been experiencing strong price appreciation, thanks to the region's robust economic growth, extremely low housing inventory and an increasing demand from international buyers," Faught said.

"San Francisco County's median home price, for example, increased 28 percent from last May and has just surpassed its previous record high reached in May 2007."

The price jumps now being experienced in most of California have been a long time coming.

"While home prices are increasing at levels above those observed in 2006 to 2007, the fundamentals of the housing market are much more solid than what we experienced a few years ago," said Leslie Appleton-Young, CAR's vice president and chief economist.

"More home buyers are putting down larger down payments, and many of them are opting for more stable loan products. Additionally, historically low mortgage rates have reduced monthly mortgage payments substantially, making owning a house more affordable, even with rising home prices."

Sales, however, continue to be hampered by low inventory. The May Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes was 2.6 months, down from 2.8 months in April and down from a revised 3.6 months in May 2012.

In San Joaquin County, the supply edged up to 2.2 months in May, but that is well below the 3.7 months reported for May 2012.

The index indicates the time needed to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate. A six- to seven-month supply is considered normal.

Homes are selling quickly, on the market an average of 27 days statewide and about 19 days in San Joaquin County.

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that home resales rose 4.2 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million. That's up from April's pace of 4.97 million.

Sales last exceeded 5 million in November 2009. During that month and October 2009, a home buying tax credit briefly inflated the sales pace. Before that, sales hadn't been above 5 million since July 2007.

While the sales pace is still below the 5.5 million that is consistent with healthy markets, it has risen nearly 13 percent in the past 12 months.

And with a tight supply of homes on the market, the median sales price rose to $208,000 - the highest since July 2008.